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Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Blogging

Well. I don't suppose my readership will rival Entertainment Weekly if I keep on with things like arguements with long dead Donald Tovey, the famous essayist. I'm sorry--it was irresistable. I think it is always good to question the conventional wisdom of the past. After all, what reason is there to suppose that Wagner actually founded the art work of the future? Or that Gluck actually reformed anything? It isn't slogans and theoritizing that count--what counts is what operas does anyone actually go to and listen to, and do they last into the next generation and beyond.

Resurrections do happen. We revere Bach because Mendelssohn resurrected him from complete obscurity. It is fun for me that when Cecilia dug up undiscovered Gluck arias, they were all standard opera seria material. Truth enters in through the ears, eyes, heart.

Now I will get back to my primary task: finding out about what is going on now. Who is hot now? I lose the thread. Sitting at home it is easier to find out about Caballe and Callas than the current bunch. Rough Guide make a lot of recommendations about recordings. I should try some of them out.

1 comment:

One of the reasons I've bookmarked your blog (and check it every day or so) is because you write about so many different things that concern opera, which includes an appropriate look at the historical perspective. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't read it - and I enjoy it immensely.